Didn't Make The Partition Big Enough...

[Silverstring]

So I only made the windows partition 5GB, because my friend said she only needed it for a couple programs. Since I hadn't known/used Windows in quite awhile, I didn't know the patches/updates, etc would take up almost 2GB! Now the partition only has about 239MB left. I'd like to make the partition bigger, without having to go through the WHOLE installation process again.

I have an external hard drive. The windows partition is formated FAT. Couldn't I just copy windows over to the external, enlarge the partition, and then copy it back? Is there a special way to do this? Please advise!

 

[wgilles]

There is some software out there that will allow you to resize partitions without loosing any data. I can't recall the names, but if you do a search in this forum you will find a thread about it.

 

[neilhart]

Good question - no good solutions

I had the same problem. Was using Acronis in BootCamp to make off system images (this is good because you can mount the image and get at your files). But found that the MBP would not boot to the Acronis CD as most PCs will, so that you can not do a restore to the BootCamp partition.

Searched and found WinClone which was reported to be the solution. However, after going through the motions, I was presented with a error message that it could not proceed with the restore..! Bummer.

Finally resorted to restoring the OSX to a new formated drive, then running BootCamp Assistant and re-installing Win XP and starting all over again.

If someone really has a solution, they should document a key stroke by key stroke process. That thread would save many from these time sink problems.

Neil

PS. Acronis does boot in my MBP but proceeds to have a problem with the keyboard and scrolls error messages in an endless loop. If anyone has a solution for that problem, image restore would be a solution.

 

[wgilles]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but WinClone is used to back up the existing Windows installation and then reinstall later?
I'm talking about a program that just increases the size of the partition without having to reformat or backup anything.
Here is a link, got good reviews, seems like a nice program
http://www.coriolis-systems.com/iPartition.php
Also, Disk Utility on new MBPs (I'm assuming, most new Macs) has the ability to resize partitions.

 

[sushi]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but WinClone is used to back up the existing Windows installation and then reinstall later?

Correct.

So the steps are:
1. Backup using WinClone (must be a NTFS partition).
2a. Use Bootcamp assistant to change the partition size (delete old one, create new one to the size you want.)
2b. Use WinClone to delete and create new partition.
3. Restore using WinClone.

I'm talking about a program that just increases the size of the partition without having to reformat or backup anything.

The OP might give iPartition a try.

A friend let me try out his copy, which worked on PPC Macs. Seem okay. Not sure if it is worth the $, when WinClone is free.

Here is a link, got good reviews, seems like a nice program
http://www.coriolis-systems.com/iPartition.php
Also, Disk Utility on new MBPs (I'm assuming, most new Macs) has the ability to resize partitions.

See above.